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Monday, 30 April 2012

Damien Hirst Exhibition, London.

Hello!!
Ok, so this one isn't about jewellery but it is about shiny, pretty things which ties in nicely. Also, I don't want to write too much as I want the images to speak for themselves. Basically I went to the Tate Modern today with the college, and found a lot of the work boring, cliched and quite pretentious. You know the stuff, a single chair in the corner, a pile of rubbish in the middle of the room etcetera, etcetera.
But the Hirst exhibition was completely different. After paying a reasonable amount of £12.20 (Hallelujah for student discounts!!), we went into the exhibition. Obviously I wasn't allowed to take pictures, as I'm pretty sure Hirst would have jumped out and hit me round the head with a stuffed shark, or some such thing. So these are pictures from the internet of some of the works we saw, and of course all credit has been given where credit is due.

So there were other pieces, such as the shark, and famous cow that was cut in half. These were both interesting but they didn't really appeal to me. But the pictures I have shown above did. The crystal skull, called 'For the love of God' was actually free to see. Before veiwing this piece, I had thought that it would be a bit tacky and not all that interesting to look at. But you do really have see it to believe it. It is held in a completely pitch black room, so dark that you have to feel along the walls to see where you're going. And then, in the middle of the room under a single spotlight is the skull. Dazzling is the word I would use. Truely dazzling. Each of the ﻿8,601 diamonds shines out with a million different colours. Seeing as it is free to get into the Tate Modern and free to view this, I would seriously recommend it. If not just to tell your grandchildren that you saw that famous skull.

Now the skull was wonderful, but the butterfly pieces were stunning. Words and photos can't really describe how fantastic it was, it has to be experienced. Especially the butterfly room. This was a white room with white canvases, on which Hirst had stuck butterfly cocoons. The room was kept humid, and bowls of fruit and flowers were placed around it. And then the butterflies hatched. Of course this happened right at the start of the exhibition, so when we went in today we were not simply walking into a hot, white room. We were walking into a hot, white room covered in the most beautiful, unique butterflies I've ever seen. There were some as big as your hand, with shimmery wings all the colours of the rainbow. If you stood still they would land on you. Looking up at the ceiling was wonderful, seeing all the butterflies perched daintily with their fabulous wings spread out. It was just amazing. But alas, as this room is so amazing, it is also very popular, so we were only allowed in there for 2 minutes. But it was a fantastic 2 minutes.

The other butterfly pieces I loved were Hirsts pictures made from the wings of butterflies, some of which I have shown above. Now the vegetarian in me said 'REAL wings?!?!? Oh thats horrible!!' But even I admit these pictures are simpley breathtaking. They are made to look like stained glass windows from a church, and in my opinion Hirst achieved what he set out to do. I adore these pictures so much, I have even considered how I am going to scrape together the £30,000 to buy one!!

Well I'm sorry if this description is a bit gushing, but I really cannot begin to describe how these works make you feel. You do really have to experience them.